We never even tried
by thisisanembarrassingaccount
Summary: "We never even thought in the long run" Avery is in love with her best friend. Problem is, she doesn't want to ruin their friendship. Plus, he's two years older than her! What should she do? FredxOC, R&R please! Thanks! Rated M for possible nastiness in later chapters.


Letting a small sigh escape her lips, Avery shook her little brother softly. "Theo, it's time to get up. Mum says we're going Hogwarts shopping- we've got to meet the others at the alley." The soon to be fourth year Gryffindor pulled her shoulder-length braid from her back to over her shoulder and undid it, shaking her hair out and looking at herself in the mirror. She wondered if he'd notice her this year. She hadn't seen him or his family all summer- they were off at the Quidditch World Cup, and as much as Avery tried to get her parents to let her go, they kept telling her that they were too busy, and besides, they couldn't get tickets anyway, since they were sold out. Since she had grown a bit over the summer, Avery would need a new uniform and robes for her fourth year. At that thought, her brother knocked on the bathroom door, where Avery was fiddling with her hair, trying to decide what to do with it. "Avery, c'mon!" he called. "You told me to hurry up, and now mum and dad are waiting on you." she groaned in response and opened the door. "Fine, fine..." she said, rolling her eyes and shoving past her eleven year old brother.

At the alley, Avery looked over to her mum. "Okay, so I need to pick up some new robes." she stated. Her mum handed her a few coins and then looked at her husband. "Paul, could you take Theodore to get his wand?" she asked, raking a hand through the chestnut brown hair that Avery had inherited. Paul, Avery's fair haired father agreed. "Yeah, sure. We'll meet you outside the Apothecary in an hour then?" he clarified. Avery's mum nodded, and the groups parted ways.

Her hand on her daughter's shoulder, Avery's mother, Colleen, led the girl into Madam Malkin's. "Miss Atkinson!" called the old witch. "In need of some new robes, are you?" Avery nodded, stepping up onto the platform that she remembered standing on when she was buying her first Hogwarts robes. She had grown about two inches over the summer, and now stood at a whopping five feet, seven and a half inches- a bit tall for her age. Her figure had filled out a bit too, but not too much. She was pretty average in shape, if not a bit under average. The fact that she had changed over the summer was unmistakable though, and she knew it. The measuring tape shot around, measuring every last bit of Avery's body. It wrapped itself around her arms, along her legs, in between her nostrils, and around her bust. Once it was finished, Madam Malkin nodded and went into the back of the store, coming back with some robes and putting them on Avery. She pinned them in places they needed adjusting, and within minutes they were a perfect fit. Avery handed the woman the money her mother had given her, thanked her, and left with her mother.

As they left the store, Avery's mother smiled when she saw a familiar sight. Once Avery looked up as well, she grinned widely. A family walked toward the shop, every one of them donning the same orange-red hair. Hurrying up to them, Avery's mum gave Molly Weasley a hug. Sauntering toward them, Avery greeted Ginny, before Molly released Colleen and moved on to Avery. "Oh, Avery my dear! It was odd not having you around this summer!" she squeezed the girl tightly, causing her to flinch in pain. "Someone's grown a bit!" she said, releasing the brunette from her death-grip. She kissed the top of Avery's head and she smiled. "I missed you guys too!" she exclaimed. Greeting each of the remaining Weasleys', they walked along the cobblestone roads. Avery walked between the twins, and Ron and Ginny walked behind them. Theo and Paul soon joined them, and both sets of parents began chatting away happily, telling each other what had gone on during the preceding summer.

"How'd your summer go?" Avery asked, looking up at each of the twins. "Pretty good," they said in unison. Over the summer, besides going to the Quidditch World Cup, the twins had pulled a few good pranks on their siblings. They had even hexed Ron's pillow so that when he laid down on it, hundreds of tiny spiders crawled out. It was completely harmless, of course, but it had given Ron quite the fright, and the boy's ears turned bright pink as the twins explained what they'd done.

"What about you?" Fred asked, looking down at Avery. She had gotten taller, he noticed, and he wasn't straining so much to look down to her as they spoke.

"We didn't do much," she explained. "Mum and dad took Theo and I on a trip to London." she smiled. "We went to the zoo. There were so many Muggles, and Theo was afraid of the giraffes. It was great." she laughed. "I wish you guys coulda come!" Avery was excited for Theo to start at Hogwarts this year. She knew she'd be looking after him a lot, and if anyone tried to pull anything with him, she'd be all over them, trying her hardest to protect her only sibling. She knew a few good tricks would be in order though, and she'd enlist Fred and George to help her out with that. Even though she was Ron's age, Fred and George considered Avery one of their closest friends. She confided in them, and sometimes they found themselves confiding in her. She was a pretty good secret keeper, and in certain situations, so were they. Once the shopping was finished, the families split up, and all headed home.

That night, as Avery lay in bed, she started thinking. How was she going to tell him? Thoughts raced through her head and she began to wonder if he felt the same way about her. "Who am I kidding?" she thought to herself, chuckling lightly. She knew that she was two years younger than Fred, and that it probably wouldn't work out. Their friendship meant way too much to her for her to ruin it by saying something stupid. She had to tell him though. Avery got up and looked in the mirror, examining her face. Was she pretty enough? Maybe if she wore makeup she'd be more appealing. She really didn't do much to keep her looks up. Her lips were a little thinner than they should be, and her nose was a bit crooked, having fallen off of her high chair when she was three. Sure, it could be fixed, but her parents didn't want to use magic to fix something as unimportant as a slightly crooked nose. It wasn't really that noticeable anyway. Her skin was a pale, freckly beige, and recently she'd started getting the odd pimple here and there. Frowning a bit, she played with her hair, sitting back down on her bed. The fourteen year old made a mental note to start putting an effort into how she looked. Eventually, she fell asleep, cuddling up to the quilt her late grandmother had made for her when she was six.

"Are you packed?" her mother called. Avery yawned. She was barely awake. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes. "Just a few minutes, mum!" it was half past eight already, and Avery needed time to get herself ready. She got dressed, putting on a sort of fitted jumper and a pair of blue jeans, tying her hair into a low ponytail and sitting at her vanity. "Hm..." she mumbled. Opening the drawer, she found some makeup, and put it on. Not much, just some pink lip gloss and mascara, but it was slightly noticeable. She figured it was better than nothing, smiled at her new found artificial beauty, and put the stuff in her bag, dragging her trunk out into the living room and then returning to carry her owl, which was perched on the bar in its cage. It gave a hoot of excitement, the same way he did every time they were returning to Hogwarts. When she was eleven, she'd given the owl the name 'Merit'. He was a nice looking barn owl, though sometimes students mistook him for a school owl. She didn't mind though.

Once on the platform, Avery took a deep breath and said goodbye to her parents, who were lecturing Theo about how to act at Hogwarts. They used the twins as an example, telling Theo that if they found out that he was acting _anything _like Fred and George, he would be punished when he came home for Christmas holidays.

_(A/N: This is a rewrite of my story 'You Think?'. Reviews and whatnot are absolutely adored. I'd love critique on Avery please! She's my most used Harry Potter OC, and I've worked particularly hard developing her. This story will have Harry/Hermione, Neville/Ginny, and a few other pairings later on too, if you're interested! ))_


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